Card game



Now-3, 1925- 'r. c-. VAN BENTHUYSEN CARD GAME Filed Feb. 27, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIGJL. F162.

NOVEMBER DECEMBER ZODIAC awuentoz,

, Nov. 3, 1925 1,559,813

T. C. VAN BENTHUYSEN CARD'GAME Filed Feb; 27, 1925 2SheeEs-Sheqf 2.

Fra

\ 9 C 5 IO J JULY 3 3 AUGUST vz V g SEPTEMBER LEAPYEAR as-12 8 Q 9 e e e Q C Q g? 7 U3QW3ld39 l fill-0E 'nwa'ea (D v avu an I jwuemtoz PATENT. OFFICE.

THOMAS C. VAN'BENTHU Y SEN 01' DIVIDE, WYOm'G.

CARD

GAME.

Application and February :1, 1925. Serial No. 12,009.

- siding at Road Ranch Divide, in the county of Laramie and State of Wyoming, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card Games, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a card game and more particularly to the cards for playing the same and it has for its object to provide a deck of cards combining with the usual characteristics of playing cards, and containing all of the advantages of the common type of playing cards, certain astronomical, zodiacal and chronological data such as the re resentation of the sun, moon,

stars, signs 0 the zodiac and names of the months, in such manner as to greatly widen the range of use of cards of this sort and to constitute an educational game for both children and adults.

Other objects and advanta es of the in vention will be full set forth in the detailed description which ollows:

In the drawings in which like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating certain cards constituting a suit hereinafter referred to as the sun suit.

Figure '2 is a like view illustrating the moon suit.

Figure 3 is a like view illustrating the star suit.

Figure 4 is a like view illustrating the globe suit.

Figure 5 illustrates a card devoted to February 29th or the extra day of leap year, and hereinafter referred to as the quter card, and

Figure 6 illustrates a zodiac card, common to all of the suits and used, upon occasions as a joker.

The complete deck consists of fifty four cards, namely, the two cards of Figures 5 and 6 andfour suits of 13 cards each as illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 respectively. The cards of the several suits are in number and in value very much like those of ordinary playing cards. For example there is an ace of sun indicated at 50 which may be either the high or low card of the suit at the will of the layer. The remaining cards are numbere from 2 to 13 and bear the number of sun spots at 51, indicated by the numbers that they bear. In other Words the card numbered 13, bears 13 of these sun spots and the remaining cards have s ots corres onding in number to the num that t ey bear, in their upper left hand corner. In addition the three highest cards of a suit bear the figures J. Q. K. indicative of ack, queen and king and these several cards 1. e. jack, queen and king, of a suit or the 11, 12, and 13 spots, whichever it may be desired to consider them, each bear the name of a month. Thus the star suit face cards carry the names of January, February and March. The sun suit face cards carry the names of the months April, May and June. The globe suit face cards carry the names of the months July, August and September while the moon suitface cards carry the names. of the months, October, November and December. The several cards carrying the names of the months further bear the signs of the zodiac relating to the said months.

Thus it will be observed that in this game each face card represents a month and that the total number of spots is 365, corresponding to the number of days in the year, the

joker being counted as a spot, but not'thev leap year card of Figure 5. Thus the game is, 1n a sense, a calendarcard game while being susceptible of use in playing any of the games commonly played with ordinary playmg cards. One of the primary objects of this invention is to help to educate children to calculate rapidly. By providing a number of spots equalto the number of days' in the year and associating with somev of the cards the names of months many combinations of games may be worked out which will require mental effort to calculate how the respective players stand and this is of great help, in teaching children mental arithmetic. The building up of different denominations of cards in play and the adding up of these different denominations in determining the score promotes the educa- 7 tion of children in rapid calculation.

It is to be understood that I may substitute for the 11, 12 and 13 spot cards the conventional faces indicative of the jack, queen and king. a

It is not possible, without extending this specification to undue length, to attem t to recite the many games that may be p ayed with the cards'illustrated, since they would run into the h ndreds of not the thousands.

7 It to say that the preferred circle.

againe greatly resembling the well own game of casino.

It will be noted that the joker or zodiac bears several numbers in its upper left hand corner viz. 1, 14, 15 and the number 1 in a The number 1 in a clrcle indicates a minus value. Thus this zodiac card, at theelection of its holder, may be countedas a one spot, a 14 spot, a 15 ot one one minus spot. The leap year car or quter has the value of either one or one minus at the election of the holder thereof. This feature of providin cards havin varying values at the election of the hol er, and partlcularly cards having both plus and minus values makes the game very excitingnnd lnterestor example the game called calendar may be playedby from two to four persons. When four play each may play for himself or with a partner. The game may be for an; number of points or end when the pack is played through.

During the deal, when the cards are dealt, the one whose cut it is, draws a card from the bottom ofthe cut art of the pack and turns it face up on t e table. Then the dealer starts to deal, first one card to the middle of the tableface up, then one to the first on the left hand and so on until allhave four cards and six are turned us on the table. Each playerplays one car in turn out of his hand,in succession, until all have played their four cards. Then four more are dealt in the same way until the entire pack is exhausted. c

In playing each player plays one card 1n turn and may take with 1t any card from the table of the same denomination,- and all cards which will combine together to make the same spot or pip value. Thus a ten may take every ten on the table and all cards whose added spots or pips total exactly ten,

as for example 6 and 4, or 5 and 2 and 3, or if an ace and a 12 spot be on the table then they may be combined together and taken with a 13 spot. The ace may be considered either a 1 orr14 spot in the play but is only one in the count of the score in determining who gets the most days. If there were four aces and quter and a 12 on the board, the aces could be piled on the 12 spot making it 16 and quter placed on top of them to reduce it to 15, so that it could be taken with the joker or zodiac, which may, at the election of its holder,

have a value of 15. This is the greatest possible play that could be made, making nine points at a single play. If a 13 spot is on the table and a player places an ace or a one spot on it, making it fourteen, another player may place another-ace on it making it 15 if he has the zodiac to take it with. He could take it as it originally stood at 14 by electing to call the jokera 14 spot but if he possessed another ace itwould be wisest tomake it a 15 since by the time the other players played around, the holder of the zodiac might find some more combinations makin 15 and thus be able to take all of them at t e same time. The inventor has seen the cards pile up in this way by the 15s until when taken there would be ten or even 12 cards taken in on the last play with thezodiac. While the leap year qluter has an elective value it is not genera 1y a good card to hold because it represents only one or one minus and while it will take aces singly and while it may be used to Y reduce the total value of a ile already'built, it is frequently the case t at some other player gets the pile before the play again reaches the quter on the pile. Eac suit is preferably printed in a different color but II do not wish to be limited to the use of any particular color since thesemay be varied at will.

The application of the names of the months to the cards of highest, value is not an arbitrary matter but, upon the contrary, these designations cooperate with the remalmng designations in rendering the game truly a calendar card game. The

four suits designate the four seasons of the year. Thus, in playing the game:

' Points. The player who gets the most cards is allotted the weeks, (there being a card for every week .or fraction) 4: The most spots, the days (there being a I spot for every day) 3 The most month cards, the months (there being a month card for every month) The most trump cards 2 The zodiac or joker 3 The leap year or quter 2 The aces, each 1 point 4 Total 20 Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. A card of the character described comprising a plurality of suits of cards, each suit having the same number of cards and the cards of the suit having difl'erent numererson who put the ure different from the astronomical figures of the other suits.

4. A deck of cards consisting of fiftyfo'ur cards, divided into four suits of thirteen'cards each and a card having a,

- plurality of predetermined plus elective values and another card having a unitary plus or minus value.

5. A deck of cards comprising fifty-four cards divided into four suits of thirteen cards each, all of the cards of each suit being designated by a like astronomical figure difditional card having a plurality of plus values and an additional card having a unitary plus or minus value.

In testimony whereof he affixes his sig- 1 nature.

THOMAS C. VAN BENTHUYSEN. 

